Indonesia is willing to increase trade relations with Iran, said the country's ambasador.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of Indonesia-Iran Friendship Association Office in Jakarta, Octavino Alimudin added that trade between Indonesia and Iran doubled in 2017 compared to the figure for 2016, Fars News Agency reported.

He underlined that Indonesia, with a population of over 280 million, offers a big market for Iran. "Trade between the two countries in 2017 exceeded $600 million which was twice the amount for 2016," Alimudin added.

Head of Iran-Indonesia Friendship Association Office Mojtaba Erfani said that relations with Indonesia, as a great Muslim country, "are important for us and we are attempting to boost the ties".

Noting that Iran has already sent five trade delegations to Indonesia, he added, "Iran-Indonesia Chamber of Commerce is also being established and we hope to develop bilateral relations by coordinating companies of both sides."

Indonesia Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) reported in June that Iranian companies and traders have embarked on 25 investment projects valued at $25.6 million in Indonesia during 2016-17.

"Iran's projects were mainly in the sectors of general trade, transportation and warehousing, chemical and pharmaceutical industries, hotels and restaurants, and metal industries," Iran's Commercial Attaché to Indonesia Anvar Kamari said.

The figures indicate that between 2008 and 2014, on average three projects worth of $1 million each have been implemented in Indonesia per year; in 2015 no project was conducted but in 2016, 16 projects with a capital equivalent to $14.3 million, and in the first four months of 2017, nine projects worth of $11.3 million have been implemented or are in progress in the southeast Asian country.